The present invention relates to an absorbent article and, more particularly, to an absorbent article such as sanitary napkin having an improved fit to the wearer's bottom.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-8971 (hereinafter referred to as “REFERENCE”) discloses an absorbent article which is substantially longer than is wide, comprising an absorbent layer, a leak-barrier layer, a front region formed with one or two leak-barrier groove (s) extending in the longitudinal direction and a rear region formed with three or more leak-barrier grooves. In this article, sealing strength along the leak-barrier grooves is set to 50 cN/30 mm or higher to prevent a possible leak of body fluids due to break and/or peeling off of a topsheet from an absorbent pad.
However, in view of the fact that a zone extending behind the leak-barrier grooves has substantially the same thickness as the remaining zone, any effective and thoughtful consideration for the purpose of improvement in the leak-barrier effect can not be found in this article of prior art. More specifically, even though the zone extending behind the leak-barrier grooves is folded in a transverse direction under a pressure laterally exerted on this zone as the article is put on the wearer's body, it will be difficult for the fold to fit into bottom cleft. Consequently, it will be difficult to prevent body fluids from leaking along the bottom cleft.